Inhalant Use and Major Depressive Episode Among Youths Aged 12 to 17: 2004 to 2006 Inhalant use and abuse constitute a public health problem that disproportionately affects youth. The 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicated that the prevalence of past-year inhalant use was almost four times higher among persons aged 12 to 17 than among young adults aged 18 to 25 (1.3 vs. 0.4 percent). Among adolescents, inhalant use and abuse have been found to be associated with depressive symptoms. Mental health research focusing on young adolescents who had not previously used inhalants indicates that those with a past-year major depressive episode (MDE) were more than three times as likely as their counterparts with no past-year MDE to initiate use of inhalants. The following are brief findings in the report: In 2004 to 2006, 1.1 million youths aged 12 to 17 (4.5 percent) used inhalants in the past year, and 2.1 million (8.5 percent) had experienced major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year. The rate of past year inhalant use was higher among youths aged 12 to 17 who had MDE in the past year than among those who did not (10.2 vs. 4.0 percent); an estimated 218,000 youths had used inhalants and experienced MDE in the past year. Among the youths aged 12 to 17 who had used inhalants and experienced MDE in their lifetime, 43.1 percent had their first episode of MDE before initiating inhalant use, 28.3 percent used inhalants before they had their first episode of MDE, and 28.5 percent started using inhalants and had their first episode of MDE at about the same time. Inhalant Use and Major Depressive Episode Among Youths Aged 12 to 17: 2004 to 2006 Download Now  (289 KB)  |  Order Free Copy (NSDUH08-0821)